


When you say nothing at all

by softshipbois (ruffrowdyboi)



Category: Polygon
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmate-Identifying Timers, basically just sweet boys looking for their soulmate, shipboys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-22
Updated: 2017-08-07
Packaged: 2018-12-05 08:23:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11574183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ruffrowdyboi/pseuds/softshipbois
Summary: Basically just my attempt at writing a soulmate au for those soft shipboys.I have this document saved as "hey what's up it's soulmate time" if that tells you anything.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic I've published, and I'm very scared. Any mistakes are my own.
> 
> Not supposed to be real people, yada yada you know the deal.
> 
> TIME BEGINS COUNTING IN YEARS, MONTHS, AND DAYS, (24:11:03) BUT ONCE IT IS LESS THAN A YEAR IT GOES TO MONTHS, DAYS, HOURS, AND SO ON, UNTIL IT’S JUST A FLAT 00:00:00
> 
> I spent a ton of time calculating birthdays and approximately when Nick began work at Polygon, so I really hope it's moderately accurate.

Griffin was born without a clock on his wrist. He wasn’t worried because he was an infant, but both of his parents were slightly nervous as the months passed without a clock. Everyone reassured them that it was fine, that his soulmate just wasn’t born yet, but for parents, the thought that their child would be lonely or different was terrible.

Griffin was two years and eleven months old when his clock appeared on March 17th, 1990. He doesn’t remember it now, but at the time, when he woke up and saw it there, the simple, small black font reading 24:11:03, he woke up his brothers (both of which complained about him waking them up) and parents, loudly proclaiming that he ‘finally had a soulmate’. His parents were exhausted, but relieved nonetheless.

\-----

When Nick was born, the doctor and nurses cleaned him off, checked his vitals, and watched as the clock on his wrist appeared.

“Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Robinson, it’s a perfectly healthy baby boy, with a time reading twenty-four years, eleven months, and 3 days. He should meet his soulmate on February 20th, 2015. Do you have a name picked out for him?”

His parents smiled at each other, and as a nurse handed him to his mother, she looked down at him and smiled wider.

“Nicolas. His name is Nicolas.”

\-----

Nick never knew a time without a clock leading him to his fate. He had a constant reminder of the years passing by as he aged. 

In grade school, particularly 5th grade, he compared his clock to his friends, seeing who would be the first out of them to meet their soulmate. While his clock said fourteen years, some of his friends said nine, or fifteen, or even twenty-two. He was happy about his time. Twenty-four would be a good age to meet someone. He could finish college, get a real job, and meet them when he was rich and successful (hey, he was ten, can you blame him?).

At his graduation from high school in 2008, Nick looked down at his covered wrist, pulled up his sleeve as he prepped to cross the stage, and read his numbers. 06:08:03. He pulled his sleeve down and looked at the stairs to the stage, waiting for his name to be called, for his graduation to be official.

“Nicolas Robinson.”

And so, he walked, shook hands, grabbed his diploma, stopped for photos, and returned to his seat, all while his mind stayed on his soulmate. 

Was it a girl? A boy? Something else? He never gave much thought to it. He didn’t really assign himself a sexuality, he just figured if he was attracted to someone, he was attracted to them, no matter the gender. He knew they must be older than him, because he had always had a clock, but he wondered how much older they would be. A month? A year? Five years? It didn’t matter, he just hoped they didn’t have to wait too long for their clock to appear.

Nick went to college, did his studies relatively well, but his passions laid elsewhere. He had always been a video game kid. He loved all of the consoles he played, all of the worlds he could escape to, all of the variations of art and style between games and genres. So, he began work with Rev3Games, and for a while he forgot about his clock because he was so entrenched in the life he was living. He moved to San Francisco, and he loved it.

During this time, he also discovered MBMBAM. He was lucky enough to make it to a live show, reveling in the energy of the brothers, and the friendliness of the crowd. Unfortunately, he did not get to meet the brothers afterwards.

When an opportunity to work for Polygon arose In December of 2014, Nick was ecstatic. He was interviewed, hired, and was told to come to the New York offices to meet everyone he would be working with in person. His clock read 27:18:49 when he bought his ticket, indicating he had twenty-seven days, eighteen hours, and forty-nine minutes until he met them. He was flying to New York on February 18th, and has the meeting on the twentieth. February 20th, the day that would change his life. He calculated that he would meet his soulmate at 10:04 AM, meaning that they would have to be at the meeting where Nick was being introduced (and come in late? It was supposed to begin at 10).  
He spent the time before his trip prepping his wardrobe, getting his hair cut, and doing many other things he would have previously considered unnecessary (like getting his eyebrows done, for example). Before he knew it, he had to pack and leave for the airport. The next time he saw his room, he would know the face of his soulmate. He would know their name.

Nick purposefully avoided researching the employees listed on Polygon’s website, hoping that it would make the surprise better and he wouldn’t get his hopes up if there was a super cute employee that it didn’t turn out to be.

\-----

Once Griffin’s life really got started with Joystiq and MBMBAM, he didn’t have enough time to really worry about his soulmate. He knew the date he’d meet them, and he figured he’d let it be more of a surprise when it came to the time. He’s sure his soulmate would notify him when they met.

He started work at Polygon, and loved the work. He got to work with his brother more, and his coworkers were fantastic people. He could work from home, and only occasionally have to leave for New York or conventions like E3.

In January of 2014, he was notified that he needed to be In New York by February 19th to welcome a new employee to the video team the next morning. He knew it couldn’t be a coincidence. Would his soulmate be a stranger on the street, the hotel bellboy, the new employee? He was stressed and anxious about it. He’d created a life that he was happy with without meeting his soulmate. Of course, he wanted to know his soulmate. It just seemed like his life would be so much different with a soulmate in it. But, hey, a soulmate is a soulmate because they’re made for you. It’s not going to be a bad situation.

He erased it all from his mind, and bought his ticket. He’d be meeting his soulmate in a month whether he liked it or not.

\-----

Love comes for us all in the end. You may not know it at the time, when you’re staring down the barrel of a loaded gun, ready to blow you away. You may not have a clock on your wrist to notify you when you’ve met that special person. You may not want it, and you may not be ready for it, but it’s inevitable. You’re lucky if that person loves you as well. You may meet that person, but they’ve already met their person. Maybe your person isn’t a person, and is instead an animal. Love has a way of finding you when you least expect it, and in unusual forms.

That’s how it worked for Griffin.

\-----

Griffin made it out of his hotel at 9:30, after getting dressed and purposefully not looking at his clock. He went outside, walked down the street to a little bagel shop, and ordered. He grabbed his bagel, payed, and then hailed a cab to Polygon headquarters.

When he arrived at the building, it was 9:57. He rushed to the elevator, only to see it closing in his face. He’d definitely be late now.

\-----

Nick was panicked, sitting in the office chair, surrounded by his now coworkers, his eyes darting between the door and his wrist that he left slightly exposed so he could watch the seconds tick down, but trying not to be super obvious about it. No one seemed to take notice, thankfully.

00:00:05…

He willed time to move faster.

00:00:04…

It didn’t work.

00:00:03…

He heard the elevator ding, and wondered if that was his soulmate.

00:00:02…

He hears someone greet someone else, and maybe the sound of someone running?

00:00:01…

The running stops outside the door, and it begins to open.

00:00:00

He stands as the man walks in, meeting his eyes. Nick glances down to his clock one last time, and watches as the man widens his eyes, and hurriedly raises his sleeve, revealing a  
clock identical to Nick’s.

The room seems to hush as they realize what has happened.

Nick walks around the table, never dropping his eyes from the older mans. He approaches his soulmate, and extends his hand, hoping to shake his hand. Instead, the man, who proves himself to be Nick’s soulmate, grabs Nick’s hand and leans to kiss it as though Nick were a princess at a ball.

“Hey, I’m Griffin McElroy, and it would appear that we have a lot to talk about.”


	2. Uh

Hey guys. I was working on a second chapter of this, but with everything going on with Nick, I'm too nauseous to even think about him, let alone write romantic stories about him and a soft boy. I really wish it weren't like this. I'm sorry, and I hope you are all doing okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :(

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading, please comment or whatever if you like it! I'm working on another fic right now, and I could do another chapter of this if y'all would be interested.
> 
> I'm on tumblr @softshipbois if you want to come talk soft boys!


End file.
